New writing, curated in Cape Town

“Noah’s Wife” by Heather Tibshraeny

People always ask me about
the animal dung
the stench
the waiting
They want to know
what did you eat
how did you bathe
and did you fight with your
daughters-in-law?
But my mind had been flooded
overturned
and I was keening
trying to understand
water from the sky
my whole world afloat
for days no one spoke
even the animals knew
we were being remade
But no one ever asks about the noise
once we were shut in, sealed
and began to float
fists pounding on wood
children’s miserable cries
the screams of fury
the calling out
the cursing
the begging
As I sat inside,
terribly
and unaccountably dry.

Heather Tibshraeny is an American by birth, South African by marriage, has lived in Cape Town for the past nine years. She’s been published in Carapace and a collection with Finuala Dowling, Difficult to Explain.